Saturday, December 03, 2005

Right-Wing Group Declares War on Americans

Making the rounds in e-mail boxes all over the globe yesterday, was a hateful little diatribe from the right-wing group Move America Forward, that essentially declared war on every American who is against the Iraq quagmire and the pack of lies that took us there.Led by second-tier, conservative radio host Melanie Morgan, Move America Forward has spent the bulk of their time since spawned earlier this year, hounding the mother of a dead solider in Cindy Sheehan and smearing her in print, on the air and in counter-protests in Crawford, Texas."The anti-war leadership will sink to any level to advance their twisted and sick extremist political views, and they must be held accountable," said Morgan in her e-mail, directing people to her latest spewing, The liars of the anti-war movement. "In the coming weeks, we at Move America Forward will hold them accountable. This column is the opening salvo."We need to consider the "opening salvo" received and be prepared to jump right up in Morgan's overly made-up face.In yesterday's column, Morgan, among other things, calls decorated-Veteran Congressman John Murtha a coward, accuses Bill Clinton of emboldening Osama bin Laden and urges her readers to question the patriotism of their fellow Americans who oppose the war in Iraq.Morgan and her ilk are quite the ugly minority indeed.Half the country says we should have stayed out of Iraq entirely and 64 percent say the result of the Iraq war isn’t worth the costs (CBS News) while 65 percent of Americans disapprove of the president’s handling of Iraq (Newsweek). Given that these – and every other major poll taken in 2005 -- show that most of the country is now in opposition to the Iraq war, Morgan's screed amounts to a declaration of war against the majority of the country. Meanwhile, a Zogby poll taken in six Middle Eastern countries, reveals that 81 percent of Arab respondents think the war has brought less peace to the Middle East, while 77 percent said they believe the people of Iraq are worse off now than before the war. And, as a Veteran, I take particular offense at Morgan's group picking up right where Jean Schmidt left off on the House of Representatives floor in attacking John Murtha (D-PA) and questioning his courage and patriotism because he called for a gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq."There stood an anguished Congressman Murtha under the hot klieg lights, with tears in his eyes, pretending he had come to some newfound opposition to the Iraq war," wrote Morgan yesterday. "Lies, lies and more lies and cowardice in the face of America's enemies to boot."Disingenuously calling Murtha an "anti-war politician," the Ann Coulter clone said that "...Murtha was merely pulling a dishonest political stunt, and he used the willing accomplices of the old-line media and anti-war crowd to pull it off."Morgan ends her crap-filled column by urging her readers to challenge the patriotism of the majority of Americans, who are against the Iraq war."The next time someone on the Left attacks you, or your neighbor, or a friend for questioning their patriotism – calmly look them in the eye and answer back. Yes, we certainly do question your patriotism."So there you have it.Morgan is clearly of the pre-Bush, Republican mindset that progressives and liberals are going to run from this kind of fight and be frightened off in the face of such a vicious opponent.She is mistaken.We are tired of people like her, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly and the whole cabal of right-wing loudmouths, who think that by yelling the loudest, being the most obnoxious and tossing out the most lying, incendiary charges, they can scare us off. More importantly, we are ready to respond in kind and to jump right back in the faces of people whose opinions are so profoundly anti-American and, yes, downright unpatriotic.We're also the ones who truly "support the troops" and are willing to yell equally as loud to see that they quit dying in a faraway land, versus people like Morgan who care little about how many troops we continue to lose.I won't say "bring it on" as I don't want to mimic the mock toughness of Morgan's chickenhawk hero, the president. But I will say this: We're not backing down this time. We're angrier than you, smarter than you, tougher than you and we'll battle you for the soul of this nation any time, anywhere.We see you slithering out of the can of worms you've opened, Ms. Morgan – and we're ready.

Political writer Bob Geiger is the award-winning author of the Yellow Dog Blog and BobGeiger.com and specializes in coverage of the U.S. Senate. He won the 2005 Weblog Awards prize for Best New Blog and was a finalist in the Koufax Awards in 2005 for his column "I Know This Little Boy in New Orleans."

He is the coauthor of The Real McCain and his work has appeared in the San Francisco Examiner, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the New York Journal News. A contributing writer to The Huffington Post and Alternet, Bob also makes appearances to comment on Senate activity on many popular radio programs.